Academic Book Recommendations?

[sixela295]

So, I'm about to begin studying for an individualized degree in Media Studies, Politics, Public Policy, and Food (particularly Food Culture, Nutrition and Food Security). Anybody have any recommendations for building a thesis?

[elemenoP]

I don't have book recommendations for you, and while I think MobileReads is a *little* bit of an odd place to be asking these questions, I am interested in these topics. Here is a place where I see public policy and food intersecting: how much should the government (local, state, or federal) be involved in regulating good eating habits? Some examples: the "soda tax" in New York (not sure if this is New York City or New York State), the city of San Francisco trying to ban happy meals. Is that too much government for things that should be up to the individual? Or is this a public health issue, because of rise in obesity, etc?

Another topic: Is fast food cheaper than "real" food and why?

I would read Michael Pollan (Food Rules might be too basic for you, Omnivore's Dilemma might be better, but I still don't know if that's academic enough). Mark Bittman was the New York Times' recipe writer for many many years and now he has stepped down from that position to write food editorials instead (still at the New York Times). I would take a look at his stuff for sure.

eP

[sixela295]

Thanks for your input! You're actually right on point– I've written about all of those examples in research papers.
& I know it's odd, I just googled "book recommendation forums" and came here.

[ctol]

No books in general to recommend, but since your thesis will be dealing with all aspects of human nature this site might prove of value to you. I have found a lot of the info it contains to useful in research for my thesis work. sincerely hope it helps you in your research endeavors.

http://human-nature.com/nibbs/

[anabolina]

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions other than to look at some of the articles you've already used for research and start with that bibliography. You've probably already tried this, but I was once helping a doctoral candidate in Education (I was an English major so no background in education for me) and that's how I got started with finding sources for him.

[v1k1ng1001]

You should definitely look into the relationship between food production/distribution, soil and the coming energy crisis. From what I understand, our system of food production is fragile in the sense that it's now largely dependent upon fertilizers drawn from fossil fuels.